Systems and methods for processing municipal wastewater treatment sewage sludge

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for drying and gasifying substances using the calorific value contained in the substances, and it more specifically relates to apparatus and methods for processing wet, pasty, sticky substances, such as municipal wastewater treatment sewage sludge, into a workable, powdered product.

Claims

1. A system for processing a sewage sludge, comprising: a dryer for partially drying the sewage sludge; a gasifier for substantially converting the partially dried sewage sludge into syngas, wherein the gasifier applies heat in an oxygen-starved environment, whereby carbon-containing materials in partially dried sewage sludge chemically react to produce the syngas without burning; a low NOx oxidizer for combusting substantially all of the syngas to substantially reduce NOx compounds and produce heat and hot flue gas, wherein the heat is used to directly or indirectly partially dry the sewage sludge in the dryer; a pathogen destruction furnace downstream from the low NOx oxidizer for substantially destroying volatile organic compounds and/or residual pathogens; and a lime injection system for substantially removing SOx in the pathogen destruction furnace.

2. The system of claim 1, comprising an air injection system to inject air into the low NOx oxidizer in stages to combust the syngas and produce heat.

3. A method for processing a sewage sludge composition comprising: drying a sewage sludge composition into a partially dried compound; using a gasifier to apply heat in an oxygen-starved environment to substantially convert a portion of the partially dried compound into syngas, wherein carbon-containing materials in the partially dried compound chemically react to produce the syngas without burning; combusting substantially all of the syngas in a low NOx oxidizer to substantially reduce NOx compounds and produce heat and hot flue gas; directing the hot flue gas to a pathogen destruction furnace; substantially destroying pathogens and volatile organic compounds in the flue gas in the pathogen destruction furnace; substantially removing SOx from the flue gas in the pathogen destruction furnace by injecting lime into the pathogen destruction furnace; and using the heat to dry the sewage sludge composition.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the heat is used to directly dry the sewage sludge composition.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the heat is used to indirectly dry the sewage sludge composition.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein drying the sewage sludge composition includes releasing a moisture-laden gas stream, and wherein the method further comprises condensing moisture out of the gas stream to produce a condensed liquid, and feeding the condensed liquid to a waste water treatment plant.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein drying the sewage sludge composition includes releasing a moisture-laden gas stream, and wherein the method further comprises condensing volatile organic compounds out of the gas stream to produce a condensed liquid, and feeding the condensed liquid to a waste water treatment plant.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising destroying volatile organic compounds in the moisture-laden gas stream.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein air is injected into the low NOx oxidizer in stages to combust the syngas and produce heat.

10. A method for processing a sewage sludge composition comprising: drying a sewage sludge composition into a partially dried compound; using a gasifier to apply heat in an oxygen-starved environment to substantially convert a portion of the partially dried compound into syngas, wherein carbon-containing materials in the partially dried compound chemically react to produce the syngas without burning; combusting substantially all of the syngas in a low NOx oxidizer to substantially reduce NOx compounds and produce a hot flue gas; directing the hot flue gas to a pathogen destruction furnace; substantially destroying pathogens and volatile organic compounds in the flue gas in the pathogen destruction furnace; substantially removing SOx from the flue gas in the pathogen destruction furnace by injecting lime into the pathogen destruction furnace; using the hot flue gas to heat air; and using the heated air to dry the sewage sludge composition.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the heated air is used to directly dry the sewage sludge composition.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the heated air is used to indirectly dry the sewage sludge composition.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising reducing the particulate emission in the flue gas.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein drying the sewage sludge composition includes releasing a moisture-laden gas stream, and wherein the method further comprises condensing moisture out of the gas stream to produce a condensed liquid, and feeding the condensed liquid to a waste water treatment plant.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising destroying volatile organic compounds in the moisture-laden gas stream.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein drying the sewage sludge composition includes releasing a moisture-laden gas stream, and wherein the method further comprises condensing volatile organic compounds out of the gas stream to produce a condensed liquid, and feeding the condensed liquid to a waste water treatment plant.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising destroying volatile organic compounds in the moisture-laden gas stream.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein air is injected into the low NOx oxidizer in stages to combust the syngas and produce heat.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an implementation of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the advantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 depicts an overview of a preferred embodiment of a system for drying and gasification of sewage sludge in accordance with the present invention. Dotted lines indicate air flow, either as ambient air or air flow into or between system components.

(3) FIG. 2 depicts a flow diagram of the steps performed by the system in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(4) Methods and systems consistent with the present invention allow for the processing of sewage sludge compositions in a manner that is efficient and generates very little in the way of solid waste or air pollutants. In addition to drying the sewage sludge, these systems and methods also recovery the energy value from and beneficially reuse the products that normally result from the drying of such materials.

(5) FIG. 1 depicts a system 100 suitable for practicing the methods consistent with the present invention. The system includes a first material feeder 105, a dryer 110, a second material feeder 115, a gasifier 120, an ash removal system 125 and storage tank (not shown), a low NOx oxidizer 130, an air to air heat exchanger 135, a lime injection system 140, a pathogen destruction furnace 145, an air pollution control device 150, and a stack for exhausting the treated, clean gas 155. The distances between the pieces of equipment depend upon the available space.

(6) FIG. 2 depicts a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of the method used to process the sewage sludge in accordance with methods and systems consistent with the present invention. The first material feeder 105 conveys wet sewage sludge into the dryer 110. One skilled in the art will recognize that each material feeder 105, 115 may be of any type that is capable of moving wet or dry materials between two pieces of equipment, e.g., a belt or screw conveyor, or any other type of conveyor known in the art. The sewage sludge also may be pumped, depending on the level of wetness of the material. The sewage sludge may be loaded into a live bottom hopper where it may be conveyed at a controlled rate to the feed hopper of the dryer. The conveyor distance is preferably about 25 feet or more. The feed hopper may feed the material into the dryer 110 at a controlled rate through a rotary air lock device.

(7) Dryer 110 partially dries the sewage sludge to reduce the moisture content of the sewage sludge from approximately 65-80% to approximately 30-50%. Depending on the characteristics of the sludge it may be dried to less than 10% moisture. The dryer 110 may be a rotary dryer, belt dryer, ring dryer, thermal screw auger, filter press or any other dryer known in the art. The transit time in the dryer 110 may be from seconds in a ring-type dryer to about three to about six hours using a thermal screw auger. Rotary dryers 110 may process sewage sludge materials in a time frame between a ring dryer and a thermal screw auger dryer. The type of dryer 110 selected may relate to the volume of material to be processed, the physical characteristics of the material to be processed, and the rate at which the material is to be processed. The device may utilize direct heat where the drying air is in direct contact with the sewage sludge, or indirect heat where hot air, steam, oil or electricity is used to indirectly dry the material and does not come in direct contact with the sewage sludge. Moreover, depending on the dryer system, a portion of the partially dried sewage sludge exiting the dryer 110 may be conveyed back to the front of the dryer and mixed with the wet material to reduce the total moisture content of the material going into the dryer 110. Depending on the length and type of dryer, the length of the conveyor back to the front of the dryer may be approximately 40 to 50 feet. If this backmixing is performed, a mixing hopper may be required to mix the dry and wet materials together prior to conveying it to the feed hopper of the dryer 110.

(8) Preferably, the material in the dryer 110 is heated to about 210 F. to about 223 F., which is hot enough to boil off the water. The heating medium (hot air, hot oil or steam) used to raise the temperature of the sewage sludge in the dryer 110 is somewhat higher. For example, the temperature may be about 350 F. for steam, about 950 F. for hot air, and about 300 F. for hot oil.

(9) Material feeder 115 conveys the partially dried sewage sludge to the gasifier 120. The partially dried sewage sludge may go into a feed hopper and be fed to the gasifier 120 through a rotary air lock device. The conveyor portion of the material feeder 115 will preferably be less than about 20 feet. The gasifier 120 should receive about 60% dry material (about 40% moisture). However, the sewage sludge may become very sticky at this level of dryness. If the stickiness of the sewage sludge is too great, the material may be dried to about 90% dryness in the dryer 110, and mixed with wet material prior to feeding it to the gasifier 120 to obtain the optimal moisture content. If this mixing is required, a mixing hopper may be required to mix the dry and wet materials together and the wet material may be conveyed about 60 feet or more from the sewage sludge storage to the mixing hopper prior to the delivery to the gasifier 120. One skilled in the art will recognize that various types of gasifiers may be used, including a rotary, retort cell, fixed-bed or fluidized-bed type gasifier.

(10) Gasifier 120 converts the carbonaceous materials in the partially dried sewage sludge into a gaseous fuel by applying heat, typically between about 600 F. and about 1,000 F., in an oxygen-starved environment. The gaseous fuel, called syngas, is primarily hydrogen and carbon monoxide with lesser amounts of other gaseous constituents. The amount of air or oxygen available inside the gasifier 120 is carefully controlled so that only a relatively small portion of the fuel burns completely. This provides the heat for subsequent reactions. Rather than burning, most of the carbon-containing materials in the sewage sludge are chemically broken apart by the heat inside the gasifier 120, setting into motion the chemical reactions that produce the syngas. Due to the heat generated from the gasification process, the gasifier 120 also does some drying of the sewage sludge prior to producing the syngas.

(11) The solid minerals in the sewage sludge (i.e., the rocks, dirt and other impurities which don't gasify) separate and leave the bottom of the gasifier 120 as an inert ash that can be safely handled in a number of ways, including beneficial reuse of the ash as a marketable solid product. Only a small fraction of the mineral matter is carried out of the gasifier as fly ash and may require removal downstream in the air pollution control device. The ash generated by the gasifier 120 may be cooled and conveyed via the ash removal system 125 to an ash storage tank prior to being transported off-site. The length of the conveyor necessary to move the ash may be about 20 feet to about 30 feet. The conveyor may feed a bucket elevator that takes the material to the top of the storage tank to feed it into the tank.

(12) The syngas produced by the gasifier 120 may be sent to a low NOx oxidizer 130. Here, air is injected in stages, into the low NOx oxidizer 130 to combust the syngas to produce hot flue gas. This combustion is a staged process that is specifically designed to reduce the amount of NOx (i.e., compounds containing nitrogen and oxygen such as NO, NO.sub.2 and N.sub.2O) produced in the flue gas from the combustion of the syngas. The low NOx oxidizer 130 may run at about 1800 F. The low NOx oxidizer 130 may be situated directly above, along side or after the gasifier 120 at the end where the resulting syngas exits.

(13) The hot flue gases generated from the combustion of the syngas in the oxidizer are sent through an air-to-air heat exchanger 135 where the temperature of the flue gases is reduced to a level that protects the downstream air pollution control equipment, and clean air is heated to the appropriate temperature required by the dryer 110. The heated clean air from the heat exchanger 135 may be used directly or indirectly to dry additional sewage sludge in the dryer 110 in lieu of firing the dryer with auxiliary, non-renewable fuel. Accordingly, the syngas produced from the gasification of the partially dried sewage sludge ultimately is used to provide the energy needed to dry the wet sewage sludge in the dryer 110. Thus, the system of the invention is able to capture the energy in the sludge and use it in process to perpetuate the process itself. Depending on the plant layout, the duct bringing the heated, clean air from the air-to-air heat exchanger 135 to the dryer 110 may be approximately 20 to 50 feet.

(14) In the drying of sewage sludge compositions a certain amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and/or residual pathogens may be released into the moisture-laden gas stream coming off the dryer 110 during the drying process of the sewage sludge. In order to meet air pollution control regulations, the moisture-laden gas stream off the dryer also may be mixed with the hot flue gas after it exits the heat exchanger 135 and ducted directly to the pathogen destruction furnace 145, to destroy any residual pathogens and/or VOCs coming off the dryer 110. This ducting may be about 30 feet to about 50 feet in length. The pathogen destruction furnace 145 may be of any known type capable of reducing the amount of residual pathogens and/or VOCs to a level within the regulatory limits of the facility's air permits.

(15) The pathogen destruction furnace 145 may also function as a gas scrubbing device to remove any acid gases produced from the process. A lime injection system 140 introduces lime into the cooled flue gases in the pathogen destruction furnace 145 to reduce the amount of SOx (i.e., compounds that contain sulfur and oxygen, and generally relate to SO.sub.2 and SO.sub.3 emissions) and any other acid gases that are generated during combustion. Most municipal sewage sludge materials contain sulfur compounds which generate SOx when combusted. The lime injection system 140 may be placed above or next to the pathogen destruction furnace 145, and it may feed lime through a rotary air lock to the pathogen destruction furnace 145 to scrub the gases.

(16) After treatment in the pathogen destruction furnace 145, the scrubbed gases may be moved through an air pollution control device 150, which controls the amount of particulate emissions. The ducting between the pathogen destruction furnace 145 and the air pollution control device 150 may be about 15 feet in length. After treatment in the air pollution control device 150, the gases are routed to the stack via ducting that may be about 25 feet in length, and exit the system through the stack 155.

(17) Other embodiments of the invention relate to the calorific value of the sewage sludge compositions. If the energy contained in the sewage sludge is greater than what was needed for drying, the excess energy in the hot flue gas off the low NOx oxidizer may be used to create electricity. This is done by using the excess clean hot air off the heat exchanger 135 in a waste heat boiler to make steam to drive a turbine or using the excess clean hot air off the heat exchanger 135 directly to drive a turbine. In addition, the syngas generated off the gasifier 120 may be cleaned and burned directly in an internal combustion engine to create electricity or used to fire the dryer 110.

(18) The hot flue gas generated from the combustion of the syngas in the low NOx oxidizer 130 may also be used directly to dry the sewage sludge in the dryer 110. After the hot flue gas is sent through the heat exchanger 135 to reduce the temperature of the flue gas the flue gas may be used directly to dry the sewage sludge in the dryer 110 in lieu of using the heated clean air from the heat exchange 135. This method would reduce the oxygen content in the gas stream in the dryer to a level that would not support combustion.

(19) Water and volatile organic compounds also may be condensed out of the vapor stream and discharged back to a municipality's waste water treatment plant. A condenser may be included to condense the moisture and volatile organic compounds from the gas stream off the dryer 110 and the condensed liquid may be fed back to the waste water treatment plant. Any non-condensable gases may be fed to the gasifier 120 or the low NOx oxidizer 130. This process would conserve energy because the pathogen destruction furnace 145 would not be needed to burn off any VOCs that may come off the dryer 110.

(20) While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that such disclosures have been presented by way of example only, and are not limiting. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

(21) Having now fully described the invention, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the same may be performed within a wide and equivalent range of conditions, formulations and other parameters without affecting the scope of the invention or any embodiment thereof. All patents, patent applications and publications cited herein are fully incorporated by reference in their entirety.